Twenty-Four
by Azurite
Summary: It's been years since the peace began, and one sweltering day in June marks the end of it all. One shot, for the SMRFF's Usa Day.


Twenty-Four  
A Sailormoon One-shot  
For the SMRFF's "Usa Day"   
By Azurite [sailor_andromida@yahoo.com]  
http://www.geocities.com/sailor_andromida  
==========================================  
Waaah! Bad Azurite! Bad! /.\ I know, I know...  
I have so many fics to update, a site to renovate...  
a real life... O.o;;  
  
Well, I wanted to get *something* out for Usa Day, and   
this is it. Between hitting my computer out of frustration  
for deleting all my old files (HTML, DOC, TXT, MP3, MPEG,  
AVI) and trying to make buttons, awards, and banners...  
well, I've been fritzed. ^^ But no longer! For my muse,  
the darling Calliope, has returned! But I think my head is  
just a layover on her way to Tahiti... ^^;;  
  
Anyways, Sailormoon doesn't belong to me; Sailormoon X is  
a farce, and I owe a debt of gratitude to Marianya-onee-chan  
for helping figure out what was wrong with my webpage. ^^  
  
Oh, and as a side note, I'm using the SMRPG date for Usa's  
birthday-- since she was 14 in 1992, when SM first came out,  
1992-14 = 1978 (when Usa was "born"). Therefore, she's 24 now.  
I'm ignoring the manga storyline. ^^; This is anime. ^^  
  
==============================================  
Conceived 6/15/02  
Written 6/15/02 (many hours later...)  
==============================================  
  
The differences between friends cannot but  
reinforce their friendship.  
-Mao Tse-tung  
  
It was a sweltering summer day in the Minato-ku ward  
of Tokyo, Japan. It wasn't all that unusual, considering  
it was the end of June, and people simply went about  
their normal business.  
  
The city was flooded with tourists and children alike,  
people who had nothing else to do with their summer  
time. And so among the Tokyo natives they wandered,  
taking in the sites and whispering amongst themselves  
in giggles.  
  
To be in Tokyo at this time of the year was comparable  
to being in a zoo; there were a good many creatures of  
color to look at, many of them more apt to preen and  
show off in front of curious eyes than others. Others  
simply went about their business, looking just as out  
of place as a dinosaur in a zoo, but paying no more attention  
to the scenery than any of the people who wore tailored  
suits and ties.  
  
Three such people were currently walking -in a manner that  
could be described as nothing less than "purposeful." They  
did not see each other, for they were all walking from different  
parts of the vast city of Tokyo-- but all converging on a single  
place.   
  
That location looked no more out of place than any other structure  
in the city- it was a tall gray apartment building of at least  
twelve stories; small white balconies adorned the Easterly side  
of the building, some decorated with hanging plants or patio chairs.  
  
But there was a single balcony which had no such ornamentation on it;  
rather than sitting under the cool of a beach umbrella or on a plastic  
patio chair, a single girl sat on the edge of the balcony, her legs  
danging between the worn white bars. She was lazily swinging her bare  
feet back in forth, cooling her small space of air around her, silently  
licking at a raspberry popsicle, unaware that her inattentiveness  
caused small magenta spots to drip onto her white cut-off shorts.   
  
Still she swung her legs, her long blonde hair barely being tossed  
by the breeze. The balcony door was ajar, as was the apartment's door,  
visible from her spot on the warm asphalt. It was hot inside, and   
though two standing fans whirred at their highest power, the humidity  
clung to the air as lint does to wool.   
  
Outside, the three young women walking towards this apartment-- towards  
this girl with magenta spots on her shorts-- looked out of place.   
Unlike the tourists, they wore clothes that covered their skin well.   
None wore shorts or T-shirts, yet they showed no outer signs of being  
disturbed by the heat. They were natives to the area, to be sure,   
knowing exactly where they were, where they were going, and how the  
weather was going to be a week and a half from now.   
  
One of the women walking was a priestess of the Shinto sect, with long   
ebony-colored hair and striking violet eyes, wearing the traditional   
garb of a lady that held such a position. Even though she wore a deep   
red 'hakama' skirt that covered her legs entirely, she seemed no less   
uncomfortable in the heat than the children around her, playing in the   
spray of a hose in their bathing suits. She was the perfect image of a   
traditional Japanese woman, even wearing the uncomfortable wooden   
'geta' sandals as she walked.  
  
Quite a contrast to this first woman was a tall, lean woman with auburn  
hair tied up in a high ponytail. Rather than anything of a traditional  
Japanese nature, she wore a simple, trendy blouse in a bright emerald  
hue, a pair of simple white trousers, and a chef's coat over it,   
adorned with pink, rose-shaped buttons. The slight breeze blew open the   
coat, revealing a small 4-shaped pendant around her neck, hanging from  
a thin chain of gold.   
  
She too, walked towards the apartment. Like the priestess, she carried  
nothing in her hands, and walked with such purposefulness in her stride  
that none could be mistaken of her destination.  
  
Several blocks down, coming from a larger building of solemn gray was a   
shorter girl, looking a good deal younger than the others. In fact, she  
was four months older than the brunette, and only six months younger   
than the priestess; yet she seemed all the more innocent, with a sort  
of light in her bright blue eyes. Her dark hair was cropped closely  
to her chin, curling under with a slight flip that was the popular   
trend those days. She wore an outfit similar to the chef -a simple   
blouse and trouser combination- though hers was a sharply-tailored,   
crisp blue color, and she wore a bright white doctor's coat over it.   
  
All three women were heading towards the apartment where the girl sat  
on the balcony, her legs dangling over city streets while a popsicle  
dripped juice onto her thighs. All three arrived at a different  
time, though only within minutes of each other; the priestess glancing  
only momentarily to the elevators before choosing the stairs; the chef  
heading immediately to the stairwell, while the young doctor waited  
patiently for the elevator to arrive from the twelfth floor.  
  
Surprisingly enough, all three women arrived at a single apartment   
door, only slightly ajar, at the same time. They exchanged no words,  
only knowing smiles, as they filed into the apartment, quite   
immediately spying their friend, sucking the juice out of a nearly-  
melted raspberry popsicle.   
  
From a room to the right of the balcony, a girl stumbled out, looking  
rather worn out. Her blonde hair was thick and matted to her brow,   
but the rest of her locks fell to her knees in a tumble. She yawned  
briefly, stretching, before nodding to her friends and wandering  
into the kitchen to mix some iced tea.   
  
The priestess went right to the girl on the balcony, only pausing at  
the door to remove her sandals. She mimicked her friend by dangling  
her long legs through the balcony bars, the action pushing up the   
scarlet fabric of her hakama to her mid-calves.   
  
Her friend said nothing, only cast a glance that couldn't quite  
be interpreted out of the corner of her eye. She continued to  
suck the juice out of the popsicle, leaving little white patches  
where the juice once was. In response, the popsicle only dripped  
more.   
  
The breeze picked up slightly, tossing the blonde's single ponytail  
into her friend's range. The pale priestess batted the mass of hair  
away, laughing.  
  
"You're spotting your shorts, I hope you know."  
"...yeah..." The blonde drawled out before grinning. She seemed  
awfully transfixed by something in the Tokyo skyline, though it  
was nothing she hadn't seen in the twenty-some-odd years she'd  
lived here.   
  
Sure, she'd moved her fair share of times, taken field trips  
and gotten lost on the bus... but everything looked so ordinary.  
It was rather amusing, considering.  
  
The brunette got up from the living room couch, where she'd been  
flipping through the latest tv guide, and leaned in the doorway  
of the balcony. She gratefully accepted a cool iced tea from  
her blonde friend, who had since gotten dressed in a simple  
tank-top and cut-off shorts.   
  
The five of them -including the shorter blue-eyed girl- clumped  
around the blonde sitting on the balcony. All was silent for  
a while -no more than five minutes, really- when the second  
blonde broke the ice.  
  
"You think those uniforms still fit us?"   
  
The girls broke up into peals of laughter, the ponytailed blonde  
included, as she finished off the last of her popsicle. She drew  
her legs into her chest, hugging them with sticky arms as she smiled  
out at the city.   
  
"They'd have to. This place..."  
  
"You think we're ready for Tokyo this time around?" The brunette  
asked, swirling her straw in the last of her ice cubes. The blue-eyed  
girl nodded slowly, a thoughtful expresion overcoming her face.   
  
"Perhaps the question should be, 'Is Tokyo ready for *us*?'" The girls  
shared a solemn nod at that, finally drawing back into the apartment.  
  
"Eight years sure went by fast, ne, minna?" The blonde murmured. She   
was fumbling with a bright red bow in the back of her head, tying up  
a short ponytail to draw away her bangs from her face.   
  
"Yeah..." Was the collective response, sounding much like a sigh.   
  
"Eight years of peace, freedom..." The priestess mumbled, throwing  
herself back into the plush couch. She leaned back and stared at the  
chalf-white ceiling, the sunspots dotting her vision like purple  
and yellow polka-dots.   
  
"...high school exams, resume writing, and college..." The bow-tied  
blonde laughed. There was a groan and a short laugh, and they fell   
silent once more.  
  
"I feel old." The ponytailed blonde finally said.  
"You *are* old, Usagi." The brunette pointed out directly. The other girls chuckled while Usagi scowled playfully.   
"And *you're* the baby of the group, Makoto!" She retorted, crossing  
her arms over her chest. A moment passed as the girls blinked in  
surprise at their friend's odd, serious expression, but as Usagi  
stared at Makoto from the corner of her eye, a sly smile on her face,  
the peals of laughter returned.  
  
It was true. Usagi, the glue that held their odd group together,  
turned twenty-four on this day in June. The 30th, to be precise. It was  
2002, and the girls had since graduated from college. Well, Ami was  
still working at Tokyo General, getting her M.D. in pediatrics, while  
the other girls had graduated.  
  
Rei, the priestess, had not attended college, since her grandfather  
had passed away and she'd been left in charge of the Hikawa Jinja  
four years ago. Minako, the other blonde, had gone to college with  
Usagi, while Makoto attended a private culinary academy before  
opening up her own bistro, with the help of a generous grant from  
a former teacher of hers.   
  
They'd been part of the 'real world' for some time now, and this  
day was signifying the point when their time spent away from it--  
lost in childhood innocence, yet forced, all too early to face  
the harsh realities of the world-- would end. Their fighting and   
growing up had paid off-- though one would have expected more a reward   
for saving the planet than a mere eight years of peace. But it was   
enough for them.  
  
These girls had been friends since they were young-- since before  
they could remember, almost. They'd grown up into young women,  
and were part of the world now... not just fixtures to it, as all  
youth seemed to be.   
  
There was no gaudy celebration, no cheesy song... the day was silent,  
for the most part, and as the girls went noticed and unnoticed  
by everyone around them, they shared their own special bond with  
their friend on her special day.  
  
Usagi Tsukino, age 24. Her "resume," like her friends, was simple  
and short.   
  
Attended Juuban High School for three years. Graduated in Class of   
1995, and went on to go to Tokyo University for three years, majoring  
in journalism, with a minor in creative writing.   
  
Held four part-time jobs in this course of time, one at the Crown  
Video Arcade and Parlor as a waitress and vendor; one at a small   
clothing boutique as a cashier; another at the Minato-ku Shinbun   
Agency, where she worked under her father, a leading photographer, as a   
gopher; one in the same Agency as an assistant journalist. She soon   
rose through the ranks in the agency, known more for her kind and  
spirited personality than for her relation to a leading photographer.  
  
Even when Kenji Tsukino retired, Usagi kept working at the Minato-ku  
Sinbun Agency, soon becoming popular enough to gain her own column.  
People came to her so frequently for advice, delighting in her  
kind, yet knowledgable personality, and loving how she was ready  
and willing to help anyone, regardless of their history or current  
situation. Unlike past advice columnists, Usagi chose not to use  
a penname or alias, and those outside of work that knew her took  
pride in the fact that their friend helped people around Tokyo  
with personal problems.   
  
Of course, she was no celebrity; the paper was only a local paper  
for the ward of Minato-ku, and unlike her more youthful days,  
was not easily marked by a pair of twin pigtails with buns topping  
them. She'd done away with the style upon entering college, instead  
trimming her hair to her waist. It had since grown back several   
inches, quite near what it had been in high school. Her friends  
often joked that she should wear her hair in the infamous 'odangos'  
again, but she'd only smiled lightly and shook her head.  
  
She was still engaged to Chiba Mamoru, who was currently finishing  
his medical degree at the United States' Harvard University. The  
following spring, they would be married.   
  
It was a bit saddening that he was not with Usagi now on her birthday,  
but he'd sent a lovely necklace for her birthday, a simple, yet   
exquisite silver pendant with a crescent moon and pearl stud. There  
was a hidden significance behind it that few recognized, and those  
that did wisely sealed their lips and simply smiled in silence.  
  
But Usagi was happy on her own. The day she'd been waiting for   
anxiously for the past eight years had arrived-- she was maturing  
into Neo-Queen Serenity. It was a name that meant nothing in the  
here and now, but in a matter of months, it would have all the  
meaning in the world. When Mamoru returned, and they married...  
  
The thought almost scared her: they would conceive a child. It  
was odd to know that for a fact-- especially since Usagi had  
been one to so rigorously go against whatever plans Destiny  
had laid out for her.  
  
"Your own heart charts your destiny," She'd always told people.  
That small phrase had enough faith behind it to inspire  
people of all levels of hopelessness, in any situation of need.  
No one asked what Usagi had been through that had changed her  
so-- those that had known her long enough either knew themselves  
or simply accepted change as a part of life. It was the way things  
went.  
  
But this was a destiny laid out for Usagi that she'd long since  
accepted. If she hadn't, long ago, then she wouldn't be  
the person she was. It was doubtful she'd even still be alive...  
without that sparkle of hope. It had faded somewhat, as Time would  
have it... but she knew all the same...  
  
She was twenty-four. Long past the time when innocence blinded you;  
friendship sheilded you; and your heart told you that you could do  
no wrong. It was long past the time when the adult world was a  
complete mystery to be unraveled-- Usagi had seen her share of  
'real life miseries,' even before she'd turned twenty. She'd been  
drunk. She'd been violently ill. She'd been lost, and alone.   
  
But it had never lasted. Such things were a part of growing up,  
a process which took time immeasurable. Each person was different;  
their experiences shaped their very being.  
  
For no one was this more true than our blonde, popsicle licking  
friend, aged twenty-four on this day. Usagi Tsukino - born 6/30/1978.  
Blood Type: O. Favorite Food: Vanilla Ice Cream. Occupation:   
Minato-ku Shinbun Agency Advice Columnist... former savior of the world  
in a mini-skirt... and future queen of Crystal Tokyo.   
  
Just a short, simple resume. Eight years since peace began, and now,  
Chaos, embedded deeply in the hearts of everyone here on Earth, would  
reign once more. The planet would slip into a state of dormancy, with  
only the hearts of the Senshi to guide them.  
  
This day marked one of great anxiety -worry that something could go   
wrong- and great joy, for they had made it this far, and they could  
keep going strong. They were the Sailor Senshi, after all. Bound   
together by something far greater than Destiny or Fate. They had Love--  
stemming from a deep friendship-- for each other. They had Usagi-- the  
very epitomy of the ties that bound them.   
  
And despite all their differences-- the mix of historical backgrounds,  
genes, personalities, and hobbies-- they were the truest of friends  
that could ever be found. Nothing could break this bond, not even the  
Time that had forged it.   
  
The girls all sat inside the apartment, strangely silent in face of  
their friend's birthday. They were all clustered around the girl, who  
was playing with her hair --tying it up in twin pigtails, topped by  
buns, to be exact. There was no cake, no balloons, no presents.  
  
It was the thought that counted, truly, on this day, when their   
friend's birthday has so much more significance than an anniversary.   
There was so much more to be looking forward to from this point on--  
it was the point when all their looking back would come to an end.  
The life they had once lived had paid off, and now they had to return  
to it. In the end, it would be for the better. The world, at last,  
would be at peace.  
  
"Ne, Usagi?" Rei spoke up, her eyes just as transfixed as the others on  
the hazy, summer Tokyo skyline.   
"Hmm?" Usagi mumbled, her head only tilting upwards slightly. Her eyes  
were constantly searching the skyline- running over the Tokyo Tower,  
the radio stations, the Ginza... It was almost as if she were  
trying to memorize what it looked like *now* -- to take a picture  
with her mind, imprint it there forever, so she could always  
remember...  
  
"Happy Birthday."   
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
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ah... yeah. well, it's a one-shot, what do you expect? ^^;;   
happy usa-day minna!  
~azurite, andromida [andi], meriellen5  
http://www.geocities.com/sailor_andromida  
finished: 06192002 


End file.
